The reason why the Government took the “difficult decision” not to allow unvaccinated tourists in the country was to protect the livelihoods of Malta’s citizens, Prime Minister Robert Abela said in an interview on Sunday.

In a press conference this week, Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne, alongside Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci, announced that as of next Wednesday, the country will not allow unvaccinated tourists to come to Malta. English language schools must also close from Wednesday, after a spike in Covid-19 cases was traced back to English language student clusters.

“The pandemic never stopped being a priority for the government. We were happy that there was a lack of cases, but once they started creeping upwards, we had the courage to act promptly. It was a difficult decision, but to protect employment and businesses, there needed to be a clinical intervention,” the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister also noted that what happens in other countries will impact what happens in Malta as well, as can be seen with the rise of imported Covid-19 cases. “We are the first EU member state to say that only vaccinated people will come, and we had the courage to do this.”

Regarding this decision, the Prime Minister did remark that the country “has already received criticism from the European Commission”, but added that the Government had no choice in order to preserve the sacrifices the country has made. 

“We were already more restrictive because we didn’t accept someone who was infected with Covid-19 in the last 6 months, as some member countries are doing, and now we are being even more restrictive,” he said. “If we really want to protect – since the vaccine is the only solution – we had to take this difficult decision.”

He clarified that the rules will remain the same for those children under 12 years of age and those who medically can’t take the vaccine – which means that they are able to enter the country with just a negative swab test.

The Government, he said, will lead with common sense in this situation and not simply not allow anyone in. “We understand that this is a very particular situation, but you have to have common sense.”

The Prime Minister remarked that what is clear and certain, however, is that the vaccine is working. “Yes, we had cases, but the majority of those cases come from people who did not take the vaccine. Even those that are suffering from serious illness due to Covid-19 in our country did not take the vaccine. So, my appeal is that people should get vaccinated,” he said.

The Prime Minister reminded that Malta has one of the strongest uptakes of the vaccine in Europe, with around 80% of adults fully vaccinated up till now. However, he still encouraged the rest to take it.

“This is not enough, as 20% are not yet vaccinated. If these 20% don’t have a valid reason to not take the vaccine, I encourage them to take it… it is a civic duty,” he remarked. “I appeal for everyone to take the vaccine. The reality is we will continue prolonging the period until we return to normality if we don’t have as many vaccinated people as possible.”

Furthermore, the Prime Minister encouraged those who have children between 12 and 15 to take them to get vaccinated. He said that if the age bracket for those who can take the vaccine is lowered further, “he will be the first one to give the vaccine” to his child. “If the Health Authorities are saying that children should take the vaccine, we should take it.”

On another topic, the Prime Minister was confident of the fiscal status that Malta finds itself in, as he noted that feedback from the European Commission as well as that of the DBRS confirmed Malta’s solid economic recovery prospects.

“In the first quarter, we had more economic growth than was projected. Furthermore, the DBRS mentioned the good vaccination plan we had. It also said that regarding the FATF decision, if our country continues reforming, the economic impact will only be marginal,” he said.

The Prime Minister remarked that this is positive news from Malta, as even during the pandemic, “we have less people applying for work than there were under a PN administration.”

On this note, he criticised the PN for “a lack of credibility”, saying that the proposals they come up with are not well-studied.

“When you see the proposals that they came up with this week, you notice that they came up with half-baked proposals in terms of incoming tourists. They can’t make good decisions when in opposition, let alone when they are in Government. The Opposition goes on social media, sees what people are thinking, and take populist decisions,” the Prime Minister said.

He accused the PN of trying to force a “negative narrative” regarding Malta, and invited the Opposition to stand with the Government in the appeal for people to take the vaccine.